Chapter 252 ( Press )

"Erin... you know what to do" - Cloud said as he looked at the silver-haired girl, who only nodded in response and withdrew.

"Should you really trust her, Master?" - Isami asked as she looked at her leader.

"She won't betray us" - Cloud answered calmly. He was sure he could recognize a traitor when he saw one, not to mention that Erin had had plenty of opportunities to hand over information about their group to the others and had failed to do so.

"I also don't think it will be useful to them because Cloud-sama hasn't shown all his skills" - Rena added while shrugging her shoulders.

"This time I agree with Rena" - answered Asuna seriously - "The information Erin can get from us is reduced compared to the level of danger we show at first sight".

"We'd better leave that for another time, for now let's concentrate on what we'll do now" - Cloud said while the girls present nodded firmly - "I want each of you to concentrate on your surroundings because there's only a month left until the [Dragons Rioting] starts and I'm sure that our rivals' groups will try to find out much more information about us than they already have"

"What will you do, Cloud-sama?" - Asuna asked earnestly.

"I'm going to be the decoy" - Cloud replied with a wild grin - "I'm going to demonstrate some of my skills to increase the pressure they feel on me while you guys train calmly..."

"I see... you want to use this opportunity to ensure our victory at the hands of the other dragons' subordinates" - Chifuyu said while nodding.

"Yes, especially Rintarō's subordinates" - Cloud replied as he looked at his subordinates - "Especially Meru."

"What about Ren-san?" - Shizuka asked as she cocked her head to the side.

"Oh, trust me, she will go straight for Cloud-sama" - replied Asuna because she understood the silver-haired girl very well.

"Exactly, she will come to me by herself" - answered Cloud as a small smile appeared on his face - "And honestly I don't mind if she does because I want to see how much she has improved during these months that I haven't seen her."

". . ." - Asuna frowned when she heard this because it was obvious that her beloved leader had an interest in that bitch who had graduated from Nangokuren.

"What's wrong with you, Asuna-chan?" - Shizuka asked as she noticed the very gloomy expression the second year girl was currently wearing.

"Oh, sorry about that... I was just thinking of some countermeasures" - Asuna smiled as she tried to deflect the topic because she didn't want to say that she was planning on how to completely tear Ren apart.

"Hmm..." - Cloud narrowed his eyes for a few seconds before shaking his head because he had noticed a slight change in the black-haired girl's aura.

"I think we're getting off topic, for now let's concentrate on the event that's about to start... no, it's better to say it's already started and now we're just preparing for what's coming" - Chifuyu said while frowning - "Cloud said he would be the decoy, so he'll have to train in a place that's both accessible and visible to the rest, while we'll train in a more secluded place."

"Leave the reconnaissance of the surroundings to me" - Isami replied as she looked at the others - "As an assassin my senses are much sharper than yours, in fact, I could claim that my senses are the best... not counting our Master, of course."

"Sounds perfect to me" - nodded Cloud as he looked at the lilac-haired girl - "I recommend you to use training number 5... I think it will be very helpful for your fighting style."

"I thank you for your advice, master" - replied Isami as she nodded firmly. She understood perfectly what kind of training that was, in fact, that was the training she wanted to practice because it consisted of concentrating more gravity on her legs in order to increase the level of mobility while wearing bandages and earplugs to better concentrate her senses of touch, smell, taste and sharpness in sensing with her Ki."

"Ok, start with the operation" - said Cloud as the girls nodded and disappeared from the place, leaving him all alone - "Ok, it's time for me to start moving too..."

* * * * *

"Ok, I think that's a good enough plan" - Rino said as the others nodded.

"But I don't think it will work, I mean, he's not a virgin like the friend here" - said Kyōka as Rintarō blushed at her words, though she had to admit that the plan was quite prone to fail.

"It's the best plan we have" - replied Rino while letting out a sigh full of irritation. She never thought that her mind couldn't come up with a plan against her enemies, this was a hard blow to her pride - "Although the plan may change after getting more information about him."

"I don't think it will be that easy, seeing how your second in command couldn't do it very well" - Meru replied while noticing how the aforementioned Shū just averted her gaze noticing how everyone was looking at her.

"Though you can't blame Shū-san because it's hard to go over Sensei's senses" - Ayane replied as she frowned.

"True, but that doesn't take away from the fact that it wasn't the best idea" - Kako added while looking at the second year girl with a smile - "Not to mention that she obviously didn't do her best. Anything to say, Shū-dono?"

"No... I have nothing to say or hide" - Shū replied while frowning - "I gave Rino-sama all the information I had seen, so I hope you won't try to say that I betrayed my leader's trust, or I swear I won't stop until I see you completely destroyed."

"I also kindly ask you not to try to sow uncertainty with my subordinate, after all, we will be allies in the near future and I don't think you will like to see us tearing each other apart when the enemy we have to face is a Beast in every sense of the word" - Rino added while looking at her Senpai's Second in Command - "Kyōka, I ask you to control your subordinates better."

Kyōka gave Kako a glance as she raised an eyebrow because he didn't think she would say those words when they were in such a tense situation, though his surprise increased when he heard that not only was she not apologizing as he thought she would, but she was pressing the issue even more - "I'm sorry if my words were too pretentious, but I was just trying to show my point."

Rino frowned when she noticed how this discussion would not end as she had wished - "Okay, I'm going to give you a chance to talk, I just hope you don't try to say another stupid thing or I swear, even if I had to get on Kyōka's bad side, I'm going to leave you so badly hurt that you won't be able to participate in the [Dragons Rioting]"

"Relax, Rino-sama, I don't plan on getting in the way of your alliance with Kyōka-sama" - Kako replied neutrally - "I'm just trying to make my point."

". . ." - Rino just signaled her to continue.

"Shū-san... Can you tell me how much information you managed to get over the past few months?" - Kako asked seriously.

". . ." - Shū was silent for a few seconds before thinking about how to answer because such seemed like the third year dragoness' subordinate wanted to throw her into a pose - "Not much truth because Cloud Strife's actions were strange compared to the past months."

"How strange was he acting?" - Kako asked as she narrowed her eyes.

"His attitude seemed to change by 40%" - Shū replied while adjusting his glasses.

"How are you so sure about that?" - Rino asked seriously because this wasn't in the report - "And why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because I didn't find it necessary to tell you this kind of useless information" - answered Shū while looking at his leader seriously - "The changes in the target's mood didn't diminish the target's strength, in fact, it only got even stronger, there I did inform you, about everything, I even left an attachment about the possible ones that triggered this change, among them the acquisition of that strange spear."

". . ." - Rino was silent for a few seconds while he analyzed better the words of his subordinate, realizing that he truly found no mistake in these - "What were the most noticeable changes in the attitude of your target?"

"Let's see... his attitude seemed to become much colder towards outsiders, his aura seemed to become much more savage and sadistic, finally, he seemed to develop a huge desire to learn how to use the spear" - Shū answered while tilting her head - "Out of those changes, there were other minor ones when it came to the women around him..."

"Just that?" - Kako asked as her eyes twinkled slightly - "I'm sure there's an additional event you haven't counted."

". . ." - Rino narrowed her eyes when she heard this because Kako's words seemed to announce that her subordinate had done something they didn't want her to find out.

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Read 15 chapters ahead of Marvel X DC and each chapter is more than 3k words so maybe a total of 47k + words ahead...

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